McMahon, Murphy Come Out Swinging in Second Debate

Republican Linda McMahon and Democratic Rep. Chris Murphy came out of the starting gate ugly on Thursday in their second debate in the race for the U.S. Senate in Connecticut.

While some issues were discussed — from Social Security to birth control to taxing the wealthy to Obamacare to Afghanistan — the pair spent most of their hour-long debate lobbing personal attacks and trading charges, the Hartford Courant reports.

"Linda McMahon would empower a Republican majority in the Senate that would stop at nothing to end a woman's right to choose, would stop at nothing to destroy environmental protection ... a party that would seek to perpetuate another round of massive tax cuts for the wealthy at the expense of the middle class,'' Murphy said.

"The congressman still tries to paint me in a corner, but he knows that's not my plan,” she added. “He knows that I'm an independent thinker. He knows that I differ from my party on various issues. I won't vote with my party 98 percent of the time as he has done.

“I'll be an independent thinker in Washington — and I bring to the table experience of job creation," she said, the Courant reports.
McMahon, a former chief executive of World Wrestling Entertainment who lost a Senate race in the state two years ago, and Murphy have battered each other with negative television ads throughout the campaign.